Bond, Charter Issues, Sprinkled On Ballot For March Election

February 16, 1986|By Jean Dubail, Staff Writer

Much more is at stake in the March 11 election than the makeup of city and town councils. Voters in several cities will be asked to approve bond issues and charter changes ranging from the cosmetic to the complete.

Boca Raton voters will decide whether to issue $6 million in bonds: $4.8 million to finance the troubled North Beach renourishment project and $1.2 million to pay for expansion of Spanish River Park.

The Florida Department of Environmental Regulation has announced its intent to deny the city`s application for a beach restoration permit. But city officials are forging ahead with the bond issue campaign in the belief that its appeal to an administrative hearing office will be successful.

A Citizens Committee for Beach Renourishment has been formed under Chairman Dave Ashe, a veteran of several bond issue campaigns. The committee plans a series of mailings and forums to educate voters about the importance of the issue to the city.

Though no organized opposition to either bond issue has surfaced, Robinson worries that the park bond issue may be in some trouble.

Rumors are rampant that the expanded park would be for the free use of all comers, including non-residents -- an utter falsehood, Robinson said. The park would carry the same non-resident entry fees as other beach parks.

``It`s for the people of Boca Raton, just as all the other parks are,`` he said.

Lake Worth voters will be asked to approve a charter to replace the one adopted in 1949.

The present charter was adopted under the Florida Constitution of 1885, which allowed to cities only those powers expressly granted by the Legislature, said Paul Nicoletti, counsel for the committee that drafted the proposed document. The result is an often self-contradictory ``laundry list`` of rights and responsibilities approaching 50 pages in length.

The new charter reflects the Constitution of 1968, which allowed to cities all those powers not expressly denied by the Legislature, Nicoletti said. It is a lean 15 pages long.

``The idea was to revise it so that there were no longer any internal conflicts,`` Nicoletti said. ``I think we`ve accomplished that.``

Among the more substantive changes, he said, are provisions requiring the City Commission to adopt impact fees on developers, setting building height limits at 65 feet, and allowing salary increases for commission members and the mayor not more often than every

two years.

The proposed charter also would require most appointive officers to post ``surety bonds`` for good-faith performance of their duties. Was this prompted by the unhappy experience with purchasing director John Kneece, who resigned under pressure and was charged with grand theft and official misconduct after $13,600 and invoices from the sale of city scrap metal were found in his desk?

``No one really said that, but my guess is that`s what it was,`` Nicoletti said.

West Palm Beach voters will be asked to approve two changes in the city charter. One would change the length of city commissioners` terms from two to three years.

Under the present system, Mayor Carol Roberts said, ``As soon as you get elected you have to start running again.`` The change would remove this pressure and create a more ``comprehensive`` commission, she said.

The second change would be in the way the police chief is selected. Instead of forming a committee to make recommendations to the city manager, who in turn nominates candidates to the City Commission, the city manager would begin the process himself.

The main advantage of such a system is speed, Roberts said. The selection of Chief George Siegrist took more than nine months, she pointed out, a ``long and arduous process.``

Greenacres City voters will decide whether to make two charter adjustments that Finance Director-City Clerk Marshall Dan describes as ``housekeeping changes.``

One would reduce the number of meetings the City Council is required to hold each month from four to two -- an attempt to save time, Dan said. The second would change the city administrator`s title to that of city manager -- a clarification, Dan said.

Boynton Beach voters will be asked to adopt a charter change permitting City Council members to serve up to three consecutive two-year terms. They are now limited to two terms.

Supporters of the proposal consider the existing limit too restrictive. A similar proposal, however, was narrowly rejected in 1984.